Divac chose not to draft Doncic in 2018
Not everyone was sold on Luka Doncic’s talent entering the 2018 NBA Draft. Talking heads, front office whispers, and league scuttlebutt predicted Doncic would be anywhere from a generational talent to a complete bust.
Count former Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac among those who had doubts about Doncic. In a recent interview with Saša Čobanov of Index HR, a Serbian-language news site, Divac laid out why he didn’t select Doncic—Sacramento drafted Marvin Bagley III—when the Kings held the second overall pick.
“I had De’Aaron Fox at that position, whom I drafted a year earlier,” Divac told Index (translated by Google). “At that moment, I thought that Fox was a player who could become a franchise player in the next period. Time will tell if I was wrong. As things stand now, it looks like I am, but I have faith in little Fox that he will have a better career.”
Queue George Michael. Doncic will undoubtedly test Divac’s faith throughout his and Fox’s careers. Divac also said that he didn’t think that Fox and Doncic could work on the court together despite how Doncic and Kyrie Irving do today.
“Not. Irving is a classic scorer, as is Luka. Fox is not, he is a play who needs the ball, just like Luka needs it,” Divac said. “I could only take Luka, but then I would have to trade Fox. Interestingly, Phoenix also skipped Luka, and then their coach was Igor Kokoškov, who was his coach in Slovenia.
“Atlanta drafted him, but they also passed on him. It wasn’t until Dallas took it. I like watching Luka, I really like his basketball, but I had my own reasons why I decided the way I did. Maybe I was wrong, but time will tell.”
Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
With all that said, Divac does think that Doncic can be the next NBA MVP from Europe, following in the footsteps of Nikola Jokic. He adds a caveat, though.
“In terms of talent and game, he is on the right track,” Divac said. “Nikola Jokić takes great care of his body. I would be very happy if we see Luka with the MVP award, but he will have to take good care of his body.”
Divac famously smoked cigarettes before games when he played for the Kings. The 2019 NBA Hall of Fame inductee also took the time to dispel some rumors circulating about passing on Doncic because of Divac’s poor relationship with Doncic’s father, Saša.
“Anyway, these are ordinary journalistic nonsense,” Divac told Index. “I know Saša very well, I love and appreciate him. He even played in Kraljevo when Luka was little. It has nothing to do with the relationship. I follow Luka and see that he is going the right way. I repeat, he will just have to watch his body.”
You can read the whole interview with Divac here.
Right now, De’Aaron Fox isn’t close to being in the same tier as Luka Doncic. Divac at least admits that. Looking at their resumes, though, it’s hard to see how Fox, who is a year older, can match any of Doncic’s feats without dramatically shifting his career trajectory.
Doncic is the reigning NBA scoring champion, a five-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA First-Team selection, NBA Rookie of the Year, and is coming off a run to the NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks. Fox has one All-Star appearance, one All-NBA Third-Team selection, and was the NBA Clutch Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season—whatever that is.
That shouldn’t distract from Fox’s talent. He’s a good player, but he’s not Doncic. Passing on Doncic and selecting Bagley in the 2018 NBA Draft might be hard for Divac to swallow. Maybe when enough time passes, his ego will finally subside, allowing him to say with conviction, “My bad.”